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Embarcadero and Union Square

Connecting Fisherman's Wharf with the heart of San Francisco's shopping district, with plenty of sightseeing on the way.

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Rating: 5 out of 5 by EveryTrail members

Difficulty: Easy

Length: 2.2 miles

Duration: Less than 1 hour

Family Friendly

Overview :
The scenic Embarcadero is a memorable way to connect two of San Francisco's biggest attractions, and is also a conveniently short and ... more »flat route.

Union Square is the center of San Francisco's shopping district and the great place to browse the flagship locations of some big name stores.

Market Street is also the beginning of our guide to Golden Gate Park, so you can use this route to help you navigate to the start of a much longer tour.

Tips:
• Be sure to pack layers of clothing so you can keep comfortable as the weather changes.
• Depending on your biking abilities, and the speed at which you'd like to travel, you can choose between riding safely along the road on bike lanes or taking the bay-side sidewalk for a more leisurely tour.
• Read the Blazing Saddles safety tips at the beginning of this guide. less «

The Fisherman's Wharf is usually at the top of most visitors lists of places to visit in San Francisco. It may be for the many restaurants or crab stands, for the street performers, for the sea lions at the end of pier 39, for the bay views or just somewhere to while away the time waiting for a ferry, but this place sure draws the crowds.

Be sure... More to investigate the oft overlooked Musee Mechanique and definitely take a stroll along the Maritime Museum's pier at the end of Hyde Street.

Red and White Fleet's cruises sail from Pier 43½ at the heart of Fisherman's Wharf. They feature cruises of varying lengths to match your needs and offer the chance of romantic sunset and twilight cruises also.

Only two of the 2,710 Liberty Ships built during the second world war, only two fully functional vessels remain. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien survived the war intact, even after making several wartime voyages including eleven trips across the English Channel carrying personnel and supplies to Normandy in support of the D-Day landings.

You can take a... More tour of the ship or take cruise on the SS Jeremiah O’Brien on special days throughout the year. Check the website’s calendar for cruising dates.

The Blue and Gold Fleet ferries serve the routes listed below. The company additionally operates a RocketBoat during summer season and cruises around the bay.
• Pier 39/41 to Angel Island, Sausalito, Tiburon and Vallejo
• Ferry Building to Vallejo, Alameda/Oakland

The wildly popular large pier on the eastern side of Fisherman's wharf is a great place to come for a short stroll, a little shopping, or dining at one of more than a dozen restaurants.

Attractions even include a carousel, a 4D ride experience, a mirror maze and aquarium. And don't leave San Francisco without saying 'hi' to the sea lions who hang... More out by the left side of the pier!

Great but relatively small aquarium located by the entrance to Pier 39. Though not a world-class attraction, its a great location to while away a couple of hours entranced by a good selection of aquatic animals. Includes two tunnels and a touch pool where you can get up close and personal with leopard sharks and rays.

Sailing from Pier 33, Alcatraz cruises is the only way to get on and off the The Rock, but that’s at least one more option than the prisoners of this island penitentiary had. In peak season be sure to purchase your tickets in advance.

The 214ft towering landmark which sits atop Telegraph Hill has been gracing the San Francisco landscape since 1933. Often admired from afar, Coit tower is also worthy of a visit on a clear day. Views from the top of the hill are mightily impressive, plus you can continue to the top of the tower by elevator and enjoy the 360-degree views across the... More city and bay.

Unless you’re a glutton for punishment we don’t recommend trying to reach the tower by bike and instead recommend an approach by foot up the Filbert Steps, located on the eastern side of the hill parallel to Pier 23 (between Union and Greenwich streets).

Around the tower and on the Filbert steps keep your eyes and ears alert for the sounds of the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill. People speculate that the parrots arrived here on ships from foreign shores, but nobody knows for certain.

Situated at the end of Market Street, there’s much more to the Ferry Building that merely catching a boat across the bay. Inside you’ll find many stores and cafes and restaurants vying for your attention including artisan foods, ice-cream and the immensely popular Slanted Door restaurant. Outside you’ll find farmer’s market stalls in front of the ... Morebuilding on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and an even bigger market behind the building on Saturdays.

Built in 1898 the Ferry Building was a roaring success, connecting the San Francisco peninsula with communities across the Bay, but the completion of the two San Francisco bridges in the 1930s let to a sharp decline in its use. The construction of an elevated freeway directly above the Embarcadero in the 1950s obscured the ferry building both figuratively and literally.

It wasn’t until after the freeway was demolished in the wake of the 1989 earthquake that the Ferry Building became a celebrated San Francisco landmark once more, leading to a renovation project which aimed to bring back the glory days of the building with a 1898-style restoration.

Run by the non-profit organization that’s also responsible keeping the history of San Francisco public transit alive in the shape of the historic streetcars and the famed cable cars, this small museum is a goldmine of artifacts and exhibits for anyone with an interest in history or railway transportation.

A side trip here would add 2.6 miles to your total journey. There are no hills on this side trip.

15. SF-Oakland Bay Bridge

Older brother to the Golden Gate Bridge by a mere six months, the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge also boasts bigger statistics. Carrying twice the load with its double-deck span the structure carries vehicles 4½ miles from shore to shore, although the eastern spans of the bridge are difficult to see from a San Francisco vantage point as... More the bridge is interrupted in the middle by the island of Yerba Buena. Bicycles are not allowed on the bridge.

Home of the San Francisco Giants, this 42,000 seater ballpark has been packing in the fans only since 2000. The park has seen many exciting baseball moments, but none more than in 2010 when the San Francisco Giants won their first World Series. Sports trivia fans will probably try and point out here that the team has won the title before, but not ... Moresince the team moved to San Francisco from New York in 1958.

SFMOMA includes 26,000 works of modern and contemporary art with an emphasis on photography, painting and sculpture, architecture and design, and media arts. The museum’s painting and sculpture collections include Abstract Expressionism, Conceptualism, German Expressionism, and the art of California. The photograph collection also comprises... More over 14,000 images related to California and the West, the European Avant-Garde, and American Modernism.
Check out the website for special events and collections.

Two blocks from Union Square, Westfield Shopping Center contains a Century Theatres multiplex and over 170 stores including the west coast flagship Bloomingdale's and the second largest Nordstrom store in the U.S.

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